OTHER VIEWS: THE READERS HAVE THEIR SAY

Weekly letters

November 08, 2008

No Saturday night fever

CHICAGO -- Since the late 1980s -- for a generation -- the Bulls have been the top attraction at Chicago Stadium and the United Center. As the top attraction, the Bulls control the schedule, playing at home most Saturday nights throughout the winter and spring.

On Saturday night, Oct. 25, the United Center's other major tenant, the Blackhawks, played host to the Detroit Red Wings in a key early-season matchup. The fans responded with a record regular-season turnout of 22,690. That figure includes almost 1,200 standing-room tickets.

Unfortunately, the Blackhawks are host to just one more Saturday night regular-season game this season, on Valentine's night. The Bulls have 12 Saturday nights at home against the Blackhawks' two. That's outrageous.

Two other major cities with shared venues have a more balanced allocation of Saturday nights: in New York, the Rangers get five and the Knicks get four. In Philadelphia, the Flyers get 10 Saturday nights and the 76ers get six.

Why the large discrepancy between the two teams in Chicago? It's not fair and it should stop, beginning next season.

-- Kenneth Salkover

Sox have No. 1 fan

GLENVIEW -- Great picture of Barack Obama sporting his White Sox pride in Thursday's Tribune. Maybe the Sox will receive a little more respect from others now that the soon-to-be most powerful man in the world is a true White Sox fan.

As for the Cubs I think I have their new rally cry for next century: No We Can't.

-- Mike Calhoun

Morrissey misses mark

CHICAGO -- In his column on Mike Singletary, Rick Morrissey is way off base in blaming the players for the state of modern sports (Tribune, Nov. 2). Anyone who says the modern athlete is out of touch with the modern world is perhaps out of touch himself.

Professional sports, like just about everything else, has evolved over the years into what it is today. If salaries and ticket prices are high, it's not the players who made that happen. It's the owners who want to make even more money, the fans who are willing to pay the high prices, and anyone else who sees professional sports as a way to make money.

More power to Mike Singletary for trying methods to get his team motivated. They may or may not work. But Rick Morrissey seems to want to return to the "good old days" of sports, which is a myth in any case.

-- George Buchhei

Morrissey right on

SKOKIE -- Rick Morrissey's wonderful and intuitive column in Friday's Wake of the News should be must reading for all young people today, notably the African-American youth who aspire to reap the benefits of professional sports. Morrissey makes clear how difficult it is to reach the heights of professional sports, and his admonition to "play sports for the lessons they teach about teamwork and effort and life" is especially inspiring.

Kudos to Rick Morrissey for an excellent column.

-- Charles Bloom

Rex will show you

CHICAGO -- Just what is it about Rex Grossman that brings out the schoolyard bully gene in such vaunted writers as David Haugh and Mike Downey (Tribune, Nov. 3)?

Rex Grossman could be just as effective as Kyle Orton; we'll know in a few more weeks, and I can just hear Lovie Smith: "We always knew that Kyle and Rex were equals, and today is the proof of that pudding."

Eventually the joke will be on Tribune sportswriters, because Rex Grossman is destined for more greatness. He did it once; he'll do it again.

Pray that the Bears don't do something dumb, like trade him or let him go at season's end.

-- Frank L. Wilhelm

Accountability lacking

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Cubs Convention sold out in 24 minutes (Tribune, Nov. 7)? If I had my druthers, I'd recruit hard-core fed-up fans to join me outside the hotel to picket their ineptitude. ... How about some "change we can believe in?" When will the Cubs "fundamentally transform" their fan base to demand accountability from those making the big dough? Heck, do it Rays and Twins style with young, hungry "gamers" -- Mike Fontenot, Ryan Theriot, Micah Hoffpauir, Reed Johnson, Sam Fuld.

"Hope and Change?" Not now. Not with Jim Hendry's contract extension.

-- Joe P. Hutchinson

Make roof mandatory

NAPERVILLE -- Watching the World Series played in that awful weather and reading all the suggestions on how to fix the problem, it became obvious that Major League Baseball would not change the scheduling or format.

Therefore, the long-term solution is simple: Make it manda- tory that all new ballparks built must have retractable roofs. This would ensure the games would be played in a comfortable atmosphere.

Just think, if they would have insisted on this 25 years ago, the problem would have been solved other than Fenway, Wrigley, and a few other parks.

At my age I will not live long enough to enjoy this, but my grandkids should.